Although we send out quarterly newsletters, we like to get Montreal Start Up‘s (MSU) Limited Partners (LP) together once a year for an update on the fund’s performance. In addition to hearing about the fund, the LP’s come to network with their fellow investors and meet the entrepreneurs’ we’ve invested in. This year we decided to open it up a bit more. In addition to all our LPs and founders, we invited many local investors, both angels and VCs, as well as other people active in the local startup ecosystem. It was an opportunity to share with the community what we’ve been up to as well as a great networking event.

Most people who read this blog and follow me on Twitter probably already know about the 15 investments MSU has made to date, Real Ventures our new seed fund that should be up and running this autumn, as well as Notman House. Those who were not at the event however, might not be as aware of the economic impact of the fund, so here are a few numbers:

$5M total size of first fund.

15: number of companies, all Montreal-based Web and mobile start-ups, we have invested in.

$24M invested by other investors into those same 15 companies, most of it as follow-on funding, but some of it as part of the initial round.

$20M of the $24M came from outside of Canada (Europe and the United States).

These numbers become even more interesting when you look at them from a government policy perspective. Some of you may remember that there was some controversy last year surrounding the FIER-Regions program. What you might not know is that $2M of MSU’s $5M comes from a related FIER program (Fonds-soutien). So for every $1 that MSU invested, another $8 was invested into new Quebec businesses, $6.6 of which was new money flowing into the province. Put another way, every FIER dollar we invested attracted another $16.6 into Quebec! That’s serious leverage. Compared to many other economic development initiatives, government money applied to the Web and mobile sectors can provide tremendous bang for the (public) buck.